Magufuli spits fire over lies…They relate to reports of 1.5 trl/- gone missing

PRESIDENT John Magufuli yesterday talked tough on false allegations circulating in social domain that 1.5 trillion/- was missing from public coffers, an amount of money that was supposed to be included in the budget for 2016/17 financial year.
 
The Head of State trashed the circulated information in the social media that attributed it to the recently released Controller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report. The visibly furious Head of State explained that he had gone through the CAG report thoroughly after hearing of the reported loss of the money but could not find the place in the report that mentioned such theft.

“Judges should apply the country’s laws because if you mislead the nation, you may cause a serious impact… I hope that when such kinds of cases land on your desks, you would handle them speedily,” Dr Magufuli said.

He was speaking at the State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday, at a function to swear in 10 new judges of the High Court, Deputy Attorney General, Solicitor General and his deputy as well as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions. “I just saw on social media that the money had been stolen from the government, and the information was attributed to the CAG report.

I decided to phone the Controller and Auditor General Professor Mussa Assad and asked him why he did not tell me about such theft when he handed the report over to me,” Dr Magufuli said. But the reply from Prof Assad, in response to the President’s enquiry, was that there was no such thing in his report. The same answer was echoed by the Permanent Secretary in the Finance and Planning Ministry, Mr Dotto James.

President Magufuli condemned the misuse of social media, whichare run by the people with business interests. “Because of freedom, people post what they wish on social media without shame or fear of God…If such information were true I wouldn’t hesitate to take action regardless whether the particular person involved was a minister,” he said.

In Dodoma, the Ministry of Finance and Planning dismissed the claims by the ‘prophets of doom’ that 1.51trl/- was unaccounted for from 25.3trl/- revenues collected during the fiscal year 2016/2017 by issuing an elaborative explanation against the misleading reports in Parliament.

Deputy Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Ashatu Kijaji, informed the august House here yesterday that the said amount included 697.9bn/- in matured government bonds and treasury bills in addition to 687.3bn/- in receivables. The soft-spoken and yet elaborative Dr Kijaji, explained further that part of the funds were 203.9bn/- collected on behalf of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, bringing the total to 1.589.1trl/-.

According to Dr Kijaji, who was delivering a ministerial statement in the assembly, a deduction of 79.09bn/- in bank overdraft from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) eventually brings the amount to 1.51trl/-.

“As a matter of fact, the amounts had not been re-allocated in the Exchequer by the time the CAG completed the audit report,” the Deputy Minister explained. Clarification by the government follows claims by Kigoma Urban MP, Mr Zitto Kabwe (ACT-Wazalendo) who posted a text on social media networks early this week, claiming that the said amount was either unaccounted for or used for expenditures not approved by the National Assembly.

The CAG, Prof Mussa Assad, showed in his audit report that total revenues by the government during the financial year 2016/2017 was 25.3trl/-, including tax revenue and non-tax revenues, local and foreign loans in addition to grants and soft loans from development partners. During the year under review, Dr Kijaji explained that the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) started recognising revenues through the International Public-Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS- Accrual).

And thus, out of the 25.3trl/- there was receivable revenues amounting to 687.3bn/- and the 203.92bn/ collected on behalf of the government of Zanzibar. In compilation of his report, the CAG used different sources of financial records and documents, including the budget execution report of which up to June 30, 2017, the total revenue collections was 25.3trl/- against expenditures of 23.79trl/-, she explained. “The expenditures had not been re-allocated at the time the audit was conducted. After re-allocation, the total spending through Exchequer issues was 24.4trl/-.

“This means that if you deduct 203.92bn/- collected for Zanzibar and the receivable revenues of 687.3bn/- actual revenues was at 24.41bn/- ,” she explained. The computation thus shows that the government expenditures for the fiscal year 2016/2017 was well above revenues by 79.09bn/- which is an overdraft from the BoT. “Disbursement of funds through overdraft facility is provided through Section 34 of the Bank of Tanzania Act of 2006,” she stated.

The deputy minister said Tanzania was the only country in Africa which had succeeded to effectively implement IPSAS Accrual, stating that the government has registered significant achievements through using the international accounting standards.

Earlier, Dr Kijaji informed the House that between 2012/2013 and 2016/2017, the government through the Ministry of Finance and Planning was in a five-year transition period of strategic plan on implementation of IPSAS Accrual. During the period, the government collected different information through IPSAS Accrual to enable it to identify assets, liabilities and tax revenues.